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#15 Managing Employee Separation

Involuntary job loss can be caused by a number of factors at work such as financial difficulties, mergers reorganizations and right-sizing. Involuntary job loss is an event that can be experienced as a major trauma that may interfere with normal life and development. Despite this trauma, it has been found that some displaced workers are able to recover quickly. One’s resilience may help the worker recover from involuntary job loss. Using an interpretive phenomenology approach and a multiple case study, the author of this study explored the career resilience experiences of Filipino workers brought about by involuntary job loss. Eight individuals participated in the research. Results showed that the respondents have varying experiences and thoughts related to their job loss. They emphasized the different behavioral and emotional impacts of the job loss and highlighted their career resilience experiences, which included how the transition experience changed them. The respondents’ experiences of resilience have implications for improving the process of helping displaced workers bounce back from involuntary job loss, such as organizations promoting career resilience or transition-readiness to their employees.